What's old is new again
with 4-4-2
Manchester City, Atletico Madrid and … Toronto FC? The 4-4-2 is back and has become a trend once again. It is one of the most utilized formations in football with many of the greatest teams in history running variations of this until some managers, to combat the effectiveness of the 4-4-2, inserted a third midfielder, thus gaining a numerical advantage in the middle of the pitch.
But 4-4-2 is still a formation that can adapt to cover the spaces and control the game.
“I think 4-4-2 is simply the most rational formation in most cases,” Arsene Wenger once said, “in fact, it’s the essence of reason. With a 4-4-2, 60% of your players are occupying 60% of the pitch. No other formation is as efficient in covering space.”
The more functional (or popular) 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 systems were exploited to outnumber 4-4-2 in the centre of the pitch. The most obvious adjustment was to dropping one of the centre-forwards into a deeper area when out of possession, with the consequence to switch the initial formation from a 4-4-2 to a sort of 4-4-1-1. We saw this the past weekend as Toronto FC lacked the options up top and chose to start Bright Dike up top with Jonathan Osorio free to roam between the striker and midfield.
Some managers have reacted differently to stay within a 4-4-2 system featuring two up front. Manchester City employed a version of the classic 4-4-2, lining up Jesus Navas and David Silva out wide while Sergio Aguero supports Alvaro Negredo up top. Aguero doesn’t play behind a lone forward but plays alongside his forward partner making it a 4-4-2 featuring a mobile and technically gifted forward paired with a physically capable target centre forward. While Silva provides the numerical balance in the middle drifting inside, Navas provides width playing out on the flank.
Playing two forwards also provides a real threat in the box, where you have two strikers playing against two central defenders.
Atletico Madrid have also shown that you can enjoy success playing a 4-4-2. Diego Simeone has challenged La Liga by lining up a striker partnership of Diego Costa and David Villa. They are also efficient defensively building a compact side when the ball is lost.
Managers can nullify the numerical disadvantage without the ball by asking the team to press high up the field when the ball is lost in the way to win the ball back as soon as possible. It shortens the space where offensive players have to work. But another solution was to ask the strikers to collapse into a more defensive-oriented roles, working together with the central midfielders providing a 2+2 block in the middle of the pitch.
Few clubs have two hardworking forwards to do it, but those who can still have the opportunity to line up two forwards without being overrun in the middle.
Michele Tossani is a football tactician with a Ph.D. in History. Michele resides in Florence, Italy and is a tactical analyst for Futbol-Tactico.com
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